From Cortina d’Ampezzo, ITA
(February 9, 2026) – We have a race at Pista Olimpica Eugenio Monti.
After two heats in Cortina d’Ampezzo Julia Taubitz leads German teammate Merle Fräbel by just .061, with a handful of women battling for the final spot on the 2026 Olympic podium.
Fräbel came into the race as the track record holder with a time set during the test event in November. Like in the men’s race, Taubitz was the first off and broke that time with a 52.638 to open the women’s luge event. But unlike the men’s event, that first time was bested a few sleds later by Fräbel, who took the lead by .048 over Taubitz.
Fräbel was off the top earlier than Taubitz in the second heat. Her second run wasn’t quite as quick as her first, but was enough to open up a sizeable lead over the remainder of the field that had gone down to that point.
But Taubitz was undeterred. In 2022 she had crashed in the second and saw her dreams of an Olympic medal disappear. In 2026 there was none of that, as she threw down the quickest run ever at Pista Olympica Eugenio Monti to not just set a track record but take the lead from her teammate.
After the second heat and in a bit of an understatement, Taubitz told FIL media that she enjoyed her runs.
“The second run was super cool, I was really in the flow and could enjoy it to the full. It was great,” she said. “That we created such a small buffer for ourselves, I didn’t expect that.”
Behind the two Germans a battle has shaped up for bronze.
Italy’s Verena Hofer, sliding better than she ever has in her career, slid to third place after one heat but had USA’s Ashley Farquharson only a thousandth of a second behind her. In fifth was Elina Bota, who had a clean slide and was just barely on the outside looking in.
Bota’s second start was a start record 3.891, and her slide was quicker than anyone else’s through the top half of the track. While she gave up some ground to the leaders late, she had enough in her run to slide into third place, .06 ahead of Hofer but .491 behind Taubitz. Farquharson sits fifth, just .113 out of third.
Italy’s Sandra Robatscher sits sixth overnight, only .005 behind Farquharson.
Heavy hitters line the top ten in the field after two heats. World Cup leader Lisa Schulte sits seventh, only .065 behind Robatscher, while USA’s Emily Fischnaller is eighth, only .006 behind Schulte. Anna Berreiter, the 2022 Olympic silver medalist is ninth with some ground to make up on the women in front of her with Switzerland’s Natalie Maag in tenth.
Summer Britcher rounds out the American effort in 12th place overnight after a disastrous start in the first heat where she hit the wall to the right on the start ramp. Her second start was significantly cleaner as she moved up from 15th in the first heat.
The Canadian duo of Trinity Ellis and Embyr-Lee Susko sit 15th and 17th respectively after two runs. Ellis backed up a clean run in the first heat with a consistent run in her second to remain in the top 15, while Susko had a major skid through the chicane and fell from ninth to 17th.
Latvia’s Kendija Aparjode, expected to be in the hunt for a medal in these Olympics, made a similar mistake to Britcher and had a bumpy run to finish the first heat in 24th. Her second run was eighth quickest to move her up into the top 20 in 19th.
Standings After Two Heats:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | FIL WC Rank |
Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Julia Taubitz | GER | 1 | 2 | 3.925 | 3.937 | 52.638 | 52.550 | 1:45.188 |
| 2 | Merle Fräbel | GER | 5 | 3 | 3.931 | 3.936 | 52.590 | 52.659 | 1:45.249 |
| 3 | Elina Bota | LAT | 3 | 9 | 3.901 | 3.891 | 52.878 | 52.805 | 1:45.683 |
| 4 | Verena Hofer | ITA | 11 | 11 | 3.928 | 3.942 | 52.861 | 52.882 | 1:45.743 |
| 5 | Ashley Farquharson | USA | 16 | 10 | 3.981 | 3.979 | 52.862 | 52.934 | 1:45.796 |
| 6 | Sandra Robatscher | ITA | 7 | 1 | 3.966 | 3.950 | 52.886 | 52.915 | 1:45.801 |
| 7 | Lisa Schulte | AUT | 2 | 1 | 3.970 | 3.986 | 52.945 | 52.921 | 1:45.866 |
| 8 | Emily Fischnaller | USA | 17 | 21 | 3.937 | 3.918 | 52.892 | 52.980 | 1:45.872 |
| 9 | Anna Berreiter | GER | 10 | 6 | 3.934 | 3.934 | 53.051 | 53.004 | 1:46.055 |
| 10 | Natalie Maag | SUI | 12 | 8 | 3.958 | 3.965 | 53.051 | 53.148 | 1:46.199 |
| 11 | Hannah Prock | AUT | 4 | 4 | 3.937 | 3.948 | 53.131 | 53.230 | 1:46.361 |
| 12 | Summer Britcher | USA | 6 | 5 | 3.981 | 3.934 | 53.389 | 53.225 | 1:46.614 |
| 13 | Dorothea Schwarz | AUT | 8 | 17 | 3.960 | 3.968 | 53.595 | 53.052 | 1:46.647 |
| 14 | Daria Olesik | AIN | 13 | 25 | 3.937 | 3.946 | 53.289 | 53.362 | 1:46.651 |
| 15 | Trinity Ellis | CAN | 14 | 16 | 3.969 | 3.964 | 53.351 | 53.510 | 1:46.861 |
| 16 | Yulianna Tunytska | UKR | 24 | 20 | 3.924 | 3.926 | 53.713 | 53.626 | 1:47.339 |
| 17 | Embyr-Lee Susko | CAN | 15 | 13 | 3.954 | 3.961 | 53.028 | 54.390 | 1:47.418 |
| 18 | Olena Smaha | UKR | 19 | 19 | 3.953 | 4.014 | 53.619 | 54.027 | 1:47.646 |
| 19 | Kendija Aparjode | LAT | 9 | 12 | 4.035 | 3.975 | 55.059 | 52.961 | 1:48.020 |
| 20 | Tove Kohala | SWE | 25 | 23 | 3.970 | 3.992 | 54.425 | 53.615 | 1:48.040 |
| 21 | Peixuan Wang | CHN | 20 | 37 | 3.920 | 3.928 | 53.897 | 54.460 | 1:48.357 |
| 22 | Veronica Ravenna | ARG | 23 | 31 | 4.407 | 4.057 | 54.038 | 54.517 | 1:48.555 |
| 23 | Klaudia Domaradzka | POL | 21 | 27 | 3.997 | 3.973 | 54.663 | 54.310 | 1:48.973 |
| 24 | Hyesun Jung | KOR | 18 | 29 | 3.982 | 4.004 | 55.118 | 54.469 | 1:49.587 |
| 25 | Ioana-Corina Buzatoiu | ROU | 22 | 26 | 3.982 | 3.973 | 54.062 | 55.786 | 1:49.848 |